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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23769382">Still It Has Only Just Begun</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/laissemoidanser/pseuds/laissemoidanser'>laissemoidanser</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Overwatch (Video Game)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Comfort/Angst, Grumpy Old Men, M/M, Post-Canon, Suicidal Thoughts</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-04-21</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-04-21</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 10:48:27</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,839</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23769382</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/laissemoidanser/pseuds/laissemoidanser</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Talon has been dealt with, another Crisis prevented and Gabriel Reyes - cured, reunited with Jack Morrison. But Reaper appears to be a much bigger problem than they could ever imagine.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Reaper | Gabriel Reyes/Soldier: 76 | Jack Morrison</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>9</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>49</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Still It Has Only Just Begun</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> </p><p>***</p><p> </p><p>Jack stirs awake when sunlight gets into his eyes. It’s almost afternoon but he barely slept at all during the night. He doesn’t remember precisely when he managed to nod off. Dark circles lie under his eyes, making the blue of the irises stand out starkly in the golden light.</p><p>He rubs his face, almost aggressively, sits up in bed, squinting around at the piles of books, papers, tablets scattered over the crumpled sheets in disorder. Jack picks up his reading glasses which, by some miracle, have remained in one piece and haven’t been crushed during the night. He eyes them thoughtfully, wipes them on a corner of the sheet and places them on a nightstand.</p><p>He’s been researching. He’s been at it for days now. Grew <em>obsessed</em> with it.</p><p>And, as much as any of his obsessions, this one is connected directly to his husband - Gabriel. Both Jack and Angela have been trying desperately to come up with a solution for him. </p><p>Jack sighs, his thoughts drifting back to the unfortunate and complicated situation they happened to be trapped in. His weary gaze slides over the papers and the weight of <em>it all </em>crashes down on him again, his chest aches, feels as if there were a void growing inside it.</p><p>His rational mind tells him there’s nothing he can do. Even though he could probably write a thesis on the subject by now - there’s <em>nothing</em> he can do for Gabriel. Except maybe help him suffer less somehow.</p><p>But his heart speaks differently - in his heart he’s never given up and never lost the ray of hope. He knows he is going to fight till the last day, till his last breath - for the <em>love of his life</em>. </p><p>After everything was over, Talon dealt with, another Crisis prevented, they figured out Moira’s work on Gabriel’s condition. They cured him of Reaper. Things were good for a couple of months. But then it backfired.</p><p>The damage that Reaper has been dealing to Gabriel’s health all these years, especially the latest years, was too much. The cells of his body could no longer function properly, couldn’t be restored. He started to get old progressively fast, his hair going completely white in a matter of weeks, his skin getting all wrinkled, then his organs failing. </p><p>They had no choice but to reactivate Reaper, otherwise Gabriel would be gone in less than a month in Angela’s estimation. The vicious thing made Gabriel younger again, supported his dying body, but, as if angry at him for removing it, it stared to eat away at him with double greediness, fucking his cells up to the point where his own limbs were no longer under his control. </p><p>Jack knows that Gabriel’s life is pretty much a torture. That it’s only for his, <em>Jack’s sake</em>, that he keeps on going.</p><p>Jack closes his eyes, heaves a deep sigh.</p><p>Those thoughts hurt him, hurt almost too much sometimes. </p><p>Concerned, he glances in the direction of the bathroom where Gabriel disappeared at about 10 in the morning. A smoky shadow almost soundlessly dissolving into the dimness of their apartment. It’s been a while since then.</p><p>The door is slightly ajar now and a strip of light is cutting its way through, into the hall where it dissipates in the sunlight.</p><p>“Gabe?” Jack calls out, shifting to the edge of the bed. His voice is hoarse from sleep. </p><p>“Bathroom,” the response follows. </p><p>“You okay?” </p><p>Silence. </p><p>Jack shakes his head, rubs his hand down his face. He gets up and pads across the room towards that strip of light, pauses by the entrance, then gently pushes the door further open.</p><p>He leans his temple against the pleasantly cool doorframe. </p><p>“You okay?” he asks again, although now he sees clearly that Gabe <em>is</em>, mostly.</p><p>He’s sitting on the edge of the bathtub, bandaging his thigh. Skin tissue got completely ruined there and wouldn’t heal for reasons no longer amenable to any scientific explanation. The ‘wound’ has been troubling him for weeks now. Bandaging doesn’t really do anything except cover it up.</p><p>Gabriel seems calm but Jack knows he’s at the brink now.  </p><p>“I’m never okay,” he snaps, hands working the bandage impatiently, erratically. He cannot get it right because he cannot move his leg properly.</p><p>“Hey,” Jack steps in, takes the bandage from Gabe’s hands and kneels in front of him.</p><p>Gabriel lets him, turns his face away, eyes full of tears which he tries to hold back by gritting his teeth.</p><p>“Let me help you with it.” </p><p>First Jack unwraps the bandage completely, takes a look at the grayish gash that is oozing smoke and reveals muscle under the skin. </p><p>Jack kisses the thigh gently; he knows the wound doesn’t hurt much. </p><p>“It’s okay, baby, it ain’t getting bigger or anything.” </p><p>“I hate this, Jack,” Gabe responds, giving Jack’s cheek a slight caress. </p><p>Jack keeps kissing the delicate skin around the wound.</p><p>“You know this is my favorite thigh in the world,” he says with a gentle smile. “I won’t ever let anything happen to it.” </p><p>He looks up at Gabe and sees tears rolling down his cheeks, sees him chuckle and smile despite them. Jack knows he’s tired, exhausted from what Reaper’s doing to his body. He wants to help him in any way he can.  </p><p>Carefully, he bandages up the wound, then rises to sit beside Gabriel, to hug him and to cradle him in his arms while he’s having his moment of weakness, sobbing quietly against the crook of Jack’s neck. </p><p>He remains by his side and never lets him go until Gabriel quiets down eventually, until his breathing evens out and he only keeps sniffling occasionally, hands caressing Jack’s sides. </p><p>“You don’t deserve all this,” he says at last. “You don’t deserve to be with someone like me.” </p><p>“Bullshit,” Jack replies. “<em>I</em> don’t deserve you. Now that’s the truth. You’re the bravest man I know.” </p><p>“I’m not. I’m scared that…, that one day I’ll have to see you <em>die</em>...”</p><p>“Gabe, please...” </p><p>“But this day will come. You know it, Jack.” </p><p>Gabriel shifts closer to him, brings his hands up to Jack’s face and lifts it so that Jack could look him in the eye.</p><p>“Then the first thing I’m gonna do is inject that cure and stop Reaper. Die as soon as possible to follow right after you...”</p><p>Jack frees his face from Gabe’s hands.</p><p>“Stop it,” he urges. “I hate this kind of talk.”</p><p>“We just need to face the facts, baby...”</p><p>“How about we stop facing damn facts every day and just live a little? This little time we have together? How about we use it wisely instead? And instead of dreading death try to enjoy life as much as we can?” </p><p>He gets up, takes Gabriel by the hand. </p><p>“Come on,” he says. “Stop sulking, it’s too early for such mood.” </p><p>“Jack…”</p><p>“Come on, Gabe! I haven’t bought us this house and this entire beach just to hear you bring up all this shit about fucking death.” </p><p>Gabriel looks down, pondering.</p><p>Once they got back together Jack has been so full of life, so…hopeful. He cannot help but get infected with that hope too, as much as he hates to cherish it.</p><p>In the end he accepts the offered hand. Feels so much better at once, as if a heavy weight has been taken off his shoulders. Giving up to Jack has always been the sweetest sensation in this entire world.</p><p>Jack has to pull him up by force because he knows Gabe’s bad leg won’t support him properly. But once he’s on his feet and found his balance he pushes Jack away slightly, able to walk on his own. </p><p>“It’s okay if we walk slow,” he concludes. </p><p>Jack nods and heads out of the bathroom, making sure that Gabriel is close behind. They get dressed - nothing but shorts and T-shirts (Gabe picks the black one), then step out of their house and onto the sunny beach. </p><p>It’s ebb. The waves are whispering, rustling quietly against the sandy shore. Not a soul around. Jack looks at Gabe and Gabe smiles a little in response, sun twinkles dancing in his big eyes, now framed with crow’s feet. Jack finds those so endearing.</p><p>“See?” he says. “It’s better outside.” </p><p>“Yeah. It’s very beautiful here,” Gabriel says, squinting at the distant horizon, golden in the rays of sun. </p><p>“Told ya so,” Jack nods.</p><p>He picks the nearest bench, unrolls a thick beach towel and places it over its warm surface for more comfort.</p><p>“Come,” he says. “Let’s seat here for a while and just…not think about anything, shall we?”</p><p>Gabriel sighs, lets out a soft chuckle before nodding in agreement.</p><p>Jack comes over to him and helps him sit down. Then settles on the bench next to him as well. For a while they sit in silence, contemplating the gentle sounds of the sea and watching it shimmer in the light of the sun. It’s quiet and peaceful – a true paradise on earth.</p><p>Gabe shifts after a while and moves closer to Jack, pressing against his side and sneaking his arm around Jack’s. He kisses Jack’s shoulder and then rests his head on it.</p><p>“Jack,” he says.</p><p>“Yeah?”</p><p>“You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me,” Gabriel tells him.</p><p>Jack’s heart flutters.</p><p>“You have good things…” He feels selfish for what he’s about to say, for stirring this topic up but cannot help it.</p><p>“<em>Family.</em> They’re still out there.”</p><p>Gabriel huffs a laugh.</p><p>“Yeah. Sure,” he observes. “You say it like it’s an honorable thing. To give life and then abandon it.”</p><p>“You didn’t abandon them. The circumstances made you. You can make things right by them. I’d only support you…”</p><p>Deep inside he knows that, in fact, he’s scared to lose Gabe like that but if that’s what would make him happy, Jack is prepared to make any sacrifices. The response Gabe gives him though, relieves his mind.</p><p>“No. In the past, maybe. Not in this life. And the thing is, I don’t want to go back there anymore. I saw it and there’s no place for me. Besides…it never felt right. Not like I feel when I’m with you. You’re my family, Jack.”</p><p>His words make Jack so emotional he has to look away and wipe tears from his eyes.</p><p>“You okay?” Gabe asks him.</p><p>“Yeah, just old and sentimental I figure.”</p><p>“Come here,” Gabriel asks him softly and when Jack turns his face to him, cheeks still wet with tears, Gabe smiles. He cups Jack’s face and wipes the wetness away with his thumbs.</p><p>“Don’t know what you’re on about. Still my favorite golden boy,” he says and kisses Jack.</p><p>And as their lips meet Jack feels like they belong, like they are parts of one perfect whole finally broken enough and tempered enough to fit together. No, there’s no going back now. There’s only Gabriel and him… and leaving everything behind for this was so much worth it.</p><p> </p><p> </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Thank you for reading! &lt;3</p></blockquote></div></div>
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